Orangetown supervisor gives Congressional testimony

BY PETER KATZ Pkatz@westfairinc.com

With the controversy still raging regarding New York City sending immigrants to Hudson Valley communities, Orangetown

Supervisor Teresa Kenny testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement. The committee, controlled by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, has been holding a series of hearings on the U.S. immigration situation, which it has named "The Biden Border Crisis." The subcommittee said it is examining "the causes and effects of the Biden Administration's open-borders policies, including illegal aliens overwhelming American communities, criminal aliens harming Americans, and terrorists entering the country in record numbers."

"What is happening in Orangetown is not unique," Kenny testified. "It is playing out throughout communities all over our country as major cities are reaching capacity for migrant housing and they are sending them to other communities, without any regard for whether they have the resources or capabilities to handle them."

Kenny said that the Rockland County community’s involvement began at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 5, 2023, when New York City Mayor Eric Adams called her and disclosed that he was starting a program to relocate migrants from New York City and to house them in hotels all across New York state.

"His call was to let me know that a hotel in Orangetown had been identified as a possible location," Kenny said. "Mayor Adams downplayed the plan, telling me that there was a chance that no one would be housed in Orangetown, and he implied that it was weeks from happening. When pressed for specifics, he told me that a member of his team would get back to me later that day with the details."

She said that at 1:30 p.m. that day, she received a call from a member of Adams’ staff and learned that the plan was to house single, adult males in a local hotel and that the buses would be arriving “imminently.” Kenny testified that within hours of that call she received a photo of hundreds of mattresses stacked outside the Armoni Inn and Suites Hotel in Orangetown.

"It was evident that this plan had been in the works for quite some time, and that it included giving local elected officials little advance notice as a means to thwart legal challenges," Kenny said. "Throughout the following days, it became clear that NYC intended to house 340 men at the Armoni Inn."

The town issued the hotel a Notice of Violation on Sunday, May 7, giving the hotel notice that the intended use was not consistent with the definition of a “Hotel” as set forth in the town code. Kenny said that on Tuesday, May 9, New York City officials scheduled a 4:30 p.m. “debriefing call” with elected officials from Rockland and Orange counties and revealed that buses would start arriving sometime the following day.

"Over the last two years, there has been a steady increase of migrants finding their way to Rockland County and settling in with the support of family, friends and local community groups," Kenny testified. "This has already started to put a strain on Rockland County and the Rockland County Department of Social Services. So much so that, just over two months ago, Congressman Mike Lawler and County Executive Ed Day held a press conference and, standing beside a number of nonprofits, food pantries and immigrant services organizations, sounded the alarm of what was to come if action was not taken to address the crisis at the southern border."

Kenny testified that they disclosed that in a period of six months the impacts have included food pantries running out of food necessitating Rockland County spending another $1 million to help them. She said that an additional 1,000 children have been enrolled in local school districts and there has been a 35% increase in the number of children in foster care.

"The problem with Mr. Adams’ plan is that he does not have one," Kenny testified. "How are these men with no family support, no working papers and with limited to no English language skills going to be able to integrate into our community? When the mayor’s staff was questioned about this, the response was that the migrants are 'resourceful' and they will find work 'off the books.' This is not a plan; it is a recipe for disaster."

Kenny pointed out that New York City received $1 billion from New York state and $30 million from the federal government to deal with immigrants sent in from other states while Rockland County did not receive a single dollar of funding.

"My heart breaks when I hear about unaccompanied children at the border and the human trafficking that is taking place, as well as the violence, abuse and death of migrants looking for a better life," Kenny testified. "This is now a humanitarian crisis and something more sustainable needs to be done. This situation requires solutions on the federal level, and I sincerely hope the lawmakers in D.C., both Democrats and Republicans, can come together to find a solution to fix this broken and unsustainable system."